Femnet e.V.

26.08.2022: News from KW 34

Studies and Co.

• Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) "Identifying, weighting and prioritizing risks - Guidance for the implementation of a risk analysis in accordance with the requirements of the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act" (PDF): For the implementation of the Supply Chain Duties Act (LkSG) lays down the BAFA a handbook on risk analysis. This helps companies to comply with their statutory due diligence obligations. The guide summarizes the essential requirements of the law and shows practical implementation possibilities. These are, for example, indications of: the difference between regular risk analyses and ad hoc risk analyses; Change of perspective in risk analysis: Human rights and environmental risks along supply chains are different from business risk analyses; Implementation of risk analysis: The central element is transparency. This BAFA is currently working on further hand drawings, e.g. on complaint mechanisms. attorney Robert Grabosch has on twitter Briefly summarized what this BAFA Expected by companies in risk analysis.
• HEY FASHION "Fashion's Waste Crisis and How to Solve it" (Enter name + e-mail address required for download): The report provides an overview of the latest data in the areas of textile waste and circular economy. Based on over 50 interviews with prominent cross-industry actors and a literature review, this report seeks to uncover common barriers that hamper progress and propose concrete, actionable recommendations for each group. The following eight points represent the main overarching measures to promote systemic change in the fashion industry to address the growing problem of textile waste: Expand collection & sorting infrastructure, invest in recycling infrastructure, reduce production & consumption, comprehensive cross-sectoral cooperation, design for durability & recycling, promote industry standards & universal definitions, move away from fossil fuels, change the metrics of success. In one ForbesArticle calls into question the representativeness of the reportFor example, since only three of the 50 experts come from the Global South and the solutions therefore mainly represented the interests of the Global North.

News

• Revision at Better cotton: At the end of 2021, the current revision process was launched with the aim of: Better Cotton Principles & Criteria (P&C) strengthen to ensure that they continue to comply with best practices, are effective and locally relevant, and are aligned with the 2030 Strategy of Better cotton agree (see news update of KW 12). The P&C v. 3.0 are expected to be published in the first half of 2023, followed by a transitional year, and will fully enter into force from the 2024-25 season. The current Public consultation of stakeholders is open until 30. Sept. and offers the opportunity to contribute to the next version of the standard.
• Old clothes: Because in the Atacama-Desert in Chile tons of sorted clothes are illegally unloaded and burned (see news updates of KW 5 '22 & KW 45 '21), Chile's judiciary is investigating pollution. The lawsuit is against the municipality. Alto Hospicio The Chilean Ministry of Finance. The city Alto Hospicio According to its own statements, it does not have sufficient personnel and resources to prevent the illegal unloading of the discarded clothing and sees itself as the end of a chain that produces in China, consumes in Europe or the USA and is disposed of in Chile. With the installation "Return to Sender", the African artists' collective The Nest Collective with the Documenta Attention to the growing mountains of old clothes in countries such as Kenya. They argue that the people who work in these landfills do the real work of sustainability or recycling and do not get support from the countries where these clothes were previously worn.
• Purchasing practices: In the news update of KW 29 in 2021, we reported on a group of MSIs (e.g. Ethical trading initiative, Better Buying Institute, Fair wear and this Covenant of Textileswho have set themselves the goal of Common understanding of Responsible Purchasing Practices (RPPs) to some. In July, the document "The Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices - Building Resilience in Textile Supply Chains" published in which the following five principles are presented: Integration and reporting, equal partnership, cooperative production planning, fair payment terms and sustainable cost accounting. The MSI Working Group also mobilizes companies that commit to taking new measures to improve their purchasing practices. A group of these companies will participate in a joint learning program, the so-called "Learning and Implementation Community" (LIC), for two years starting in September '22.

Countries of production

• India: More than 100 workers were injured in a gas leak in a textile factory. Workers complained of difficulty breathing, suffocation, nausea, coughing and headaches, while some of them fainted before being hospitalized. A similar incident occurred in the same factory in early June. The factory management and government apparently did not take sufficient measures to protect workers' health after the first incident. The factory is also located in a special economic zone where trade union work is suppressed. The Prime Minister ordered it now. Establishment of a high-level expert committee to investigate the incident. In KW 10 we reported on the the Tracker Worker Rights Consortium, the outstanding wage back payments to textile workers in Karnataka feshold. The tracker has now been updated: More than $23 million of the original $30 million has already been paid out to the workers.

• Bangladesh: In an attack on a bus in early August Tangail became a Textile worker raped by several men. There were 24-25 passengers on the bus. The 10-12 robbers looted money, cell phones and jewelry. The woman was raped by the group for trying to prevent the robbery. One of the men is in pre-trial detention. Four textile workers died and at least 15 others were injured. , after the bus that was to take them to the factory had been rammed by a train at a railway crossing in Gazipur and overturned.